Another Attempt

Are you sick of tutu pictures yet? I'm not! I keep hoping to get a "perfect" picture of the girls in their tutus but that has yet to happen. We went on a walk down the road last week and I saw this bench and knew it might make for cute pictures but this is all I could get. I decided I don't mind this because it is a reflection of how things really are for us...each girl does what they want and I am just here to make sure they don't get hurt or hurt each other. They rarely are doing the same thing at the same time and asking them to sit and smile at the camera just will not work. Shouldn't pictures reflect their personalities rather than looked posed and unnatural? So I will keep trying until I can capture a perfect moment where both girls can sit next to each other and smile for me. If it doesn't happen then that is ok because when I look back in 20 years I will smile remembering these candid moments because these are the moments that make up life. I don't think you can get that type of feeling from a studio portrait.

Oh My!

My dinner was soooo good I thought I would blog about it! I found the recipe here http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/09/grilled-ribeye-steak-with-onion-blue-cheese-sauce/ and it is so dang delicious! A nice tender ribeye steak with a creamy onion and blue cheese sauce that nearly made me cry with delight! This may sound gourmet but took me only 20 minutes to cook. I wilted some fresh spinach to go along with it. I halved the recipe and it made a ton of sauce and was very filling so I still have half the steak left for lunch tomorrow. Now if you are on a diet then this recipe is not for you because it is loaded with butter, heavy cream and cheese which is why I will not be making this every week but will be added to my recipe book for special occasions. This is definitely a dish you could entertain with.

If you get the chance you should really check out The Pioneer Womans blog. She makes me laugh, offers great photography and photo editing tips and I want to make just about every single recipe she posts but I can't afford to gain anymore weight so I just drool into the keyboard as I scroll down the page.

Fall Is Here

Fall is my most favorite season. The days are the perfect length and the temperatures are generally comfortable. Of course nothing beats the beauty of the leaves as they start changing into wonderful shades of red, yellow and orange. I love the smell of the leaves as they start falling and the crunchy sound they make when you are walking through them. Lets not forget about apples. Apple cider, cold or mulled, rocks my socks off!

Of course another great thing about fall is Halloween! The great candy, fun costumes and cute decorations make me happy. I picked up these little bears for the girls today...yes James more stuff they don't need but it made them so happy. I was kinda on the fence about getting them but Aubrey made that decision easier because when I handed it to her to look at she pulled the Ty hang tag off! No going back after that happens. Besides, Lolo kept kissing the Vampire bear the entire time we were in the store. Who could say no to that? I will pack them up with the Halloween decorations when the time comes. I also picked up a cute black garland with pumpkins in it and wrapped it around the light over the dining room table. That is what the bears are sitting in. I really only took this picture because I like playing with my camera and seeing what kind of pictures I can get when I play with the settings.

Frame is from House of 3. I downloaded 2 frame sets and my blog header from their website over the weekend. They have gorgeous digital elements and I hope they continue to add more. I like photo editing and these frames add the perfect final touch that they sometimes need.

Just Wasting Time

I should be cleaning up because I have a friend coming over on Thursday. I need to get laundry done and put some things away. I need to put my sewing machine and fabric away. Just things that require a few minutes each but add up to a fair amount of work when I have the girls to look after. I can not leave the room without them messing up something I just cleaned up.

Here is yet another card that I have made recently. Making cards for James has certainly taken over most of my craft time and I don't mind. It is forcing me to think of new designs and to use up my large stash of supplies. This card is made using Jenni Bowlin papers and mini Bingo card. The base of the card is Stampin' Up cardstock. The ric rac is from Maya Road and the twine that is wrapped around it came off the hang tag of the girls new jeans. I am glad I saved it and I like the look it gave the card. That would probably be my favorite feature. I used a Fiskars border punch again and then stitched around the edges and across the ribbon with my sewing maching.

I am working on completing an album all about me! I was so excited to start this class but find that it is much harder writing about me or people and things that are important to me. This is something I hope my daughters want to read about when they are older and that has put alot of pressure on me to make sure this book is a true relection of me, right now. So I keep typing away and remain very grateful for the message boards over at Big Picture Scrapbooking that keep me inspired to complete this project.

Another Try

Everytime I try to take pictures of the girls it is a huge ordeal because they don't like to cooperate with me! They run off, reach for the camera or cry! I am so glad we got a digital SLR camera because I can take many shots very quickly and can usually get at least 1 good photo of each girl.

Frame is from House of 3.

Kinder Karnival

Today I took the girls out to post so we could check out the Kinder Karnival that was going on. I am always a little hesitant to do such things on my own because the girls can be a handful but things went well and the girls ended up having fun. The crowd was very small and super easy to get around. There was a couple of bouncy castles, a ball pit, games, face painting, balloons, small merry go round, karaoke and snacks. Aub and Lolo loved the merry go round and the bouncy castle on the second try. The first time I put them in the bouncy castle they both bailed out really quickly but I gave it another try before we left and they loved it! I couldn't Lolo to come out so I had to lean in and pull her out! I am so glad they had a great time because they really needed it. They played hard and were asleep in about 20 minutes once they settled into bed. I wish this was something they could do more often.

Frame is from House of 3.

Getting Caught Up!

I have certainly felt busy this past week even though I really haven't accomplished much. A few trips out to post to check the mail and get groceries and a bit of time making James a card to send off. Yesterday the girls and I went to go visit my dear friend Stephanie. How exciting for us that she moved so close! So we spent several hours chatting while the girls played and made themselves right at home...Aub even raided Steph's fridge and tried to walk off with a DVD! It was so nice to sit and chat with a great friend.

After we left Stephanie's house we went to the Grafenwohr Px to do some shopping. The Px here is small and generally doesn't have what I want so we have to drive to places with a better Px. I picked up Grey's Anatomy Season 5 so I can finally get caught up. We had dinner at Subway and then came home. It is fun spending quality time with my girls (especially when they are well behaved).

I had alot of fun making this card. I used my Slice to cut the birds, border and heart punches and my sewing machine. The patterned paper and yellow inside is Basic Grey.

This is one of my favorite cards that I have made...so simple. The papers are from Jenni Bowlin.

Fishy Project

I have spent some time looking for projects that I can do with the girls. I found a cute project kit online that involved fish and tissue paper but the shipping was outrageous so I set out to create my own version of the project. I cut fish out from construction paper, cut some double sided adhesive sheets to fit on the middle of the fish and then cut up some bits of tissue paper. Easy...took me maybe 20 minutes to prepare. I put the girls into their high chairs and we got to work decorating our colorful fish. Lolo tossed her bits of tissue paper onto her fish and Aubrey took longer putting each piece down. I grabbed crayons to draw on eyes and Aubrey wanted to do that part on her own. I think we ended up with a really cute and easy craft that held their attention just long enough for the activity to be fun. We hung the fish up on our arts and crafts wall so they can check out their pieces of art.

Busy!

For the past week and a half I have been doing a lot of sewing. I have completed 2 tote bags, a Christmas tree skirt, 3 table runners, 1 crayon roll and 2 crayon notebooks! I am tired just thinking about it. I have 1 more tote bag to make and a cover for a book. Once I get my sewing machine put away I don't think I will pull it out again for a long while. I have some pictures I need to be scrapbooking so I can attempt to get caught up on the girls albums.

James and I just installed Skype on our computers so we can make video calls. We tried it today and it is great. Lolo was so happy to see her daddy. She sat in my lap saying "daddy" and waving to James! It was so stinking cute. I love that she was so excited to see him.

I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend. The girls and I just hung out at home. The weather was chilly and Lolo has come down with a bit of cold which Aubrey and I have now. I hope this passes soon and we don't start a vicious cycle of continually being sick.

In case anyone is wondering about the fabric on the bag...it is Amy Butler. I just love it and I am so proud of my bag.

***UPDATE***UPDATE***UPDATE***

The baby pigeon has disappeared. I have no idea where he went and I am a little sad. Really. I seriously am. I really wanted him to be ok and the girls loved watching him out the window. I hope I don't have to worry about pigeon babies ever again! They are creepy little buggers.

James has been gone 6 weeks now and time has actually gone by pretty quickly. Not fast enough but quicker than I imagined it would and for that I am grateful.

I have been doing a few sewing projects and am glad for the distraction. I have completed a cute little tote bag (minus a button) and a Christmas tree skirt in the past 2 days. I know it is early for Christmas projects but I really wanted to get it taken care of so I wouldn't feel stressed to finish it on time. I hope to post pictures of the tote bag once I get the button sewn on tomorrow. It is cute and I am so proud of the way it turned out. I also ordered some prints from Shutterfly and once they get here I need to spend some time getting caught up on my scrapbooks. They have really taken a back seat lately to card making and now sewing. I am so happy I have great hobbies.

Finally, the cute picture of Lolo was taken earlier in the month. I just love this picture for a couple reasons. First, look how blue her eyes are! How gorgeous! Next, her perfect round face. Finally, I love how I was able to capture Aubrey way in the back of the picture. I just love it when I am able to capture such perfect photos of my girlies!